Two stories unfold in this book. The first is the story of Radha, and Shyam, and of travel writer Chris, who comes to their riverside resort in Kerala with a cello and a tape recorder, to meet Radha’s uncle, Koman, a famous kathakali dancer. While Koman and Radha both find themselves strangely drawn to Chris, Shyam becomes a helpless observer as Radha embraces Chris with a passion and recklessness he cannot comprehend.
Koman is both an observer and participant in this story, making no judgments, except those he reveals to the readers. The second story is that which Koman tells Radha and Chris, the story of his own convoluted past and his parents, a fascinating account by all standards. The tale takes us all over Kerala and Tamil Nadu, to the unique town of Arabipatnam, and to various other places. And it brings us to kathakali, with fascinating insights into the training and performance of this traditional dance form, which is drama as well as dance. The book is in the first person, but does not have a single narrator; as in a dance-drama, each of the players is allowed to speak for himself. Shyam voices his thoughts, and Radha voices hers, and we see them hurting each other, the misunderstandings deepening through the trickery of words. As Nair goes further into their past, we begin to understand the complexities of their relationship, to comprehend the injustice of it all.
While it is Shyam who draws the most sympathy, Radha is not really a v rather, she is vulnerable and insecure, too. But it is Koman’s point of view that is the most interesting. With his knowledge of kathakali, a dance form which is entirely based on the epics, he looks upon mankind with a wisdom drawn from the heroes, princes and villains of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. He recognizes every nuance of emotion as one he has experienced, as part of a vesham, or a role in kathakali.
In minor gestures and fleeting expressions, the minds of all are revealed to an artist who is trained to interpret emotions with a finesse and perfection. The author uses kathakali as her metaphor for life; the book is sectioned into nine parts, each named after one of the navrasas, the nine emotions or the nine faces of the heart…love, contempt, sorrow, fury, valour, fear, disgust, wonder and attachment…their traditional names, of course, are used. Each section begins with a wonderful piece on that particular rasa, in the voice of the teacher, giving examples from nature to teach his students how to bring the expressions onto their faces.
The book moves from Shringaram to Shantam, and each time we get an inkling of what is to follow. The language is superb and the structure unique. The plot is full of twists, and the book is powered by the colourful complexities of many characters. Through all the incidents, Nair searches for deeper meanings in art and life. Thought-provoking and absorbing, this a brilliant book from a writer who does not hesitate to challenge herself, a book original in both structure and content. A must-read for any lover of literature.